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Parts: 1 2 3 4 5
In part one, I went over a touch of what Sketchbook Pro is and is not, and I contrasted it with the current industry standard illustration go-to program (in mind share anyway), Adobe Photoshop.
In part two, I began to uncover the way that Sketchbook Pro prioritizes canvas space and bends the user interface around that priority, including tool economy and color selections.
In part three, I highlighted the major tools you will be using in the program to rapidly develop drawings, storyboards, illustrations, and sketches.
In part four, I explored the erasers, the focus tools, and we bent time and space by learning about the Space Tools.
This time, we are going to put it all together with a short video walkthrough of a small drawing from beginning to end and highlight layer properties and management.
Ready? Let’s go!
Why Sketchbook Pro is valuable to me
First of all, I used to work primarily on a wacom intuos3 tablet, after moving up from an aiptek tablet when I first began working digitally over 6 years ago.
It was a great improvement, but drawing on tablets took me a long time to get used to. There was a disconnect in drawing on one thing and looking at the screen to see what you are drawing at the same time.
I recently got a motion computing tablet with wacom digitizer in it. That’s a fancy way of saying that its a laptop without a keyboard and a wacom tablet built in.
It’s a significantly older model, but man… WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT! Drawing on the screen is so useful that I find it difficult going back to my regular drawing tablet.
One day I hope to invest either in a Cintiq or a newer motion tablet, but in the meantime I am happy with what I have. My screen resolution is locked at 800×600 which is why I went investigating lightweight drawing applications in the first place, and discovered Sketchbook Pro.
The design decisions to prioritize screen space and drawing process over user interface mean so much to me and my current needs. The lack of general information about how to jump into the software out there led me to create this guide.
Dorian and I are going to walk you through a simple drawing made in Sketchbook Pro from beginning to end. I’ll be highlighting layer properties and management, as well as using a variety of the tools we touched on in our guide. I hope you find it helpful to you.
Where to try the Software for yourself:
If you haven’t given the trial a spin I recommend doing so.
For PC: autodesk.com/trysketchbookpro
For Mac users running 10.6 OS, you can get it from the Mac App Store
there’s also a free “express” version available
I just found this out this week, but for individuals considering buying a Cintiq or Intuos 4 tablet hardware from Wacom (or have already bought one), Autodesk and Wacom have partnered to bring you a free express version of Sketchbook Pro when you purchase the hardware.
Please go here for details on this offer and click on “Software” to register your device and get your download.
